Tire



R. N. MCCLURE.

TIRE.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. I0, 192|.

Patented Nov. 21, 1929.

Patented Nov. 21, 1922.

' UrrED STATES PATENT omen.

RODNEY N. MCCLURE, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA..

\ y Trnn.

Application led January 10, ,1921. SerialNo. 436,148.

T all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, RoDNEY N. MCCLURE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State 0f California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tires, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a resilient tire for automobiles and other vehicles, and particu-V larly pertains to a type of tire in which the sealed inner tube is of the pressure type construction and contains a resilient inflating medium' 'consisting of a fluid having air or other fixed gases held in suspension therein in addition to a stratum of compressed air; the inner tube being protected by an outer layerl of suitable fabric and further protected -by removable plates secured by proper means to the layers between the outer cover to the tire.

An object of this invention is to provide a resilient iniating medium of such physical characteristics and so .disposed throughout the inner tube thatl the lines of force ofthe blows to which the tire is subjected will be caused to travel circumferentially throughout the mass contained in the inner tube thereby dissipating the force of the blow.

A further object is to provide a means for iniating a' tire without having the thin side walls subjected to the same high pressure as that required against the walls surrounding the greater circumference, and to provide a construction that is particularly suitable to permit the force of a blow to be transmitted to the inflating medium without said medium attempting to dissipate the blow in its own structure.

A further object is to provide-means of protecting the outer layer, of such a tire against usual wear, and further provides means of renewing this protection'.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention is .illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 showsga tire in section on a line taken through the axis of the wheel on which the tire is mounted.

l'Iligure 2 is a projected elevation of a part of the transverse circumference of the tire showing'the location of the tread plates.

More specifically, 3 indicates an`annular tubu1ar; body formedA cfa-.series of layers of `rubberized fabric on the inner faces of the side walls of 4which tubular`bo dy is formed inwardly' extending continuous ribs 4 composed of vulcanized rubber having reinforcing wires 5 embedded 4 therein. The ribs 4 extend close to each other at their outer ends to form a restricted slot 6`and separate the interior of lthe tube into inner and outer chambers 7 and 8 communicating with each other through the slot G. The inner surface of the tube is lined with a layer of rubber 9. A double layer of fabric 10 having anchor plates 11 secured thereto is wound spirally around the tubular body. Other layers ofrubberized fabric 12 are provided around the double layer of fabric 10. A. tread por-A At-ion 13 is made up of successive layers of fabric extending partially around the tire. Internally threaded members 14 expanded into the anchor plates 11 extend radially up through the layers 12 and tread 13 and by means of screws 15 screwed therein hold cupped thread plates 16 preferably of trianguiarl outline. Other protecting plates 17 are provided at the sides of the tirc and are secured in4 lsubstantially the same way as the plates 16, but their centers are disposed midway between the centers of the plates 16. A series of anchoring teeth. 18 of vulcanized rubber are formed om the inner periphery of the tubular body and are embedded in the `inner rim 19 of vulcanized rubber, which in turn is mounted in a metallic rim 20 adapted to be secured to a wheel rim 21 by the removable cla-mp 22 secured by the nut 23, as is common in demountable rim Aconstructiom To inflate the tire the inne-r hollow ortion -is partially filled with a liquid an vair is forced in through a suitable valve or opening, vnot shown, or the iuid may be putin under pressure thereby compressing the atmospheric air ordinarily contained in the tube f before illing.- In either case when the tire is at rest the fiuid and air will bepractically separated. The inner walls of the tube whether'in contact with the air or the iluid vehicle vis at rest suiiicient vpressureis maintained in the tire'to give theproper suplport.

When vthe 'tire is set in motion revo ving with the wheel `the fluid, due .to itsy inertia and by frictional contact' with the inner ios walls of the tube will be strongly agitated and caused to pick up and hold in suspension some of the air, resulting lin an air impregnatedfluid which will be resilient, and due to the centrifugal force will tend to occupy those sections ofthe tire which are of lgreater distance from the center of the tire are pressed in by contact with the road the fluid Willsurge slightly through the peripheral opening 6 and the agitation of the fluid will cause it to pick up air.

At thev points of greatest circumference the pressure against the inner walls of the tube will bey reatest and gradually diminished as thev toward the `points of least circumference. At any given circumference the pressure to which the inner wall is subjected to 'at that point will be'equivalent to the air pressure plus the hydrostatic. pressure of the fluid caused by centrifugal force. Since the wear on the tire is ordinarily greatest at the point of greatest circumference the walls of all V- tires are generally made thicker at this point and in an inflated tire the thicker the wall the lower becomes the resiliency lat that point. In this invention the centrifugal force added to the air pressure at these points gives a pressure constant with the thickness of the tire wall thereby subjecting the thicker portion ofthe tire to the maximum pressure required without subjecting the 4thinner walls of the tire to the same pressure thereby -producing suitable resiliency at the point of greatest circumference to lsupport the vehicle.

In solid rubber tires or other resilient tires ablow, such as is caused by lcontinual forceful contactof the tire against the road or j objects in the road, is always taken up by a local portion of the structure'. The rforce travels radially from the point ^of contact into the mass of the substances andrepeated* blows at anyone point will for this Vreason rapidlybreak down the molecular structure. In atire construction ofr resilient material `and, inflated with air much of they force of i i the blow is taken u by the Iouter covering in the same way as 1n the solid 'tire and the j 'force of a-blow-is dissipated largely-'by the structurecffthe tire before the force reaches the resilient and inflting medium. Also 1n' these tire'sthe thicker Walls are subjected to the maximum bursting stresses whereas this invention permits of obtaining the desired pressure against the outer wa comingl in "contact with the road without subjecting the epth of the mass becomes lessv wall of the requisite-tensile lstrength but which is pliable is more ladvantageous in combinationwith means for inflating which I have described that is a substance such as rubber which is resilient but less pliable, it

being obvious that the resiliency of the; tire should be offered by the action of a resilient .inlating medium upon its structure rather than the structure itself being resilient. This method of creating within-the` inner tube, a pressure which increases toward the Y outer circumference is particularly adapted therefore to all-tires of the usual construction and may be used ina tire of any substance particularly where the thickness ofv the wall increases towardthe point of greatest circumference; without departing from the spirit of the invention..

When a blow is struck against, the Walls.`

`of this tire, the fluid being 1n proximity to the walls receive the force of the blow. Or-

dinarily the lines of force of a blow against a tiretend to move toward the back of a tire along the line-,of its axis. `With this construction, however, the centrifugal force combined with the inertia of the fluid tends to prevent the, force from materially chang- `ing the'circumferential contour of the mass` these' lines efforce being turned and caused to travel circ'umferentia ly around the tire through the center of this mass, thus the force is gradually dissipated throu Ahout the entirev length of the maw, the air w ich is in suspension therein undergping a combined com ression suilicient to a sorb the force f the low, but lowing to the distance of t e circumference the compression of the air impregnated mass at any one poi'nt is practically negligible. yT he specific heat of such armass is several times greater than the specic heat of air and, therefore, the mass will not change its temperature as readily under operating conditions( y I claim: v c

I1. In, a' vehicle tire', a hollow portion adapted to contain both air and fluid, and

projectingmembers circling the inner walls of said hollow portion adapted to `offer re-` sistance to the .movement of the fluid.

2. A vehicle tire comprising an annular 4 tubular member adapted to contain bothvv air and liquid, .said tubular membery being formed with inner and outer chambers com-,1.86 f,

municating with each other through a restrcted slot. 4

3. In a vehicle 'tire an annular tubular member formed with inwardly extending A5 continuous ribs on the side walls thereof, the rib on oneside of the tube terminating adjacent the rib on the other side of the tube te 4form a restricted slot between said ribs.

4. In a tire an annular tubular member adaptedto contain both 'air and liquid, and 10 means arrangedbetween the inner and outer peripheries of the tube for resisting move- Y ment of the 1i uid.

ODNEY N. MCCLURE. 

